Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber Town Hall. View directions

Contact: Democratic Services 

Items
No. Item

29.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Joanne Beecham, Juliet Brunner, Alex Fogg, Ann Isherwood and Gareth Prosser.

 

In the absence of the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Tom Baker-Price, chaired the meeting.

 

 

30.

Declarations of Interest

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

 

Minutes:

Councillors Tom Baker-Price, Andrew Fry, Bill Hartnett and Emma Marshall declared other disclosable interests in Minute Item No 35 – Executive Committee – in respect of the recommendation that had been made by the Executive Committee on 12th July 2022 on the disposal of land at St Gregory’s Church.  This declaration was made due to their appointment to Redditch Co-operative Homes by the Council as Redditch Co-operative Homes was due to develop land for social housing at the site.  They left the meeting during consideration of the item and took no part in the debate nor vote thereon.

 

 

31.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 433 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED that

 

the minutes of the meeting of Council held on Monday 27th June 2022 be approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Mayor.

 

 

32.

Announcements

To consider Announcements under Procedure Rule 10:

 

a)           Mayor’s Announcements

 

b)           The Leader’s Announcements

 

c)           Chief Executive’s Announcements.

 

 

Minutes:

The following announcements were made at the meeting:

 

a)          The Mayor’s Announcements

 

In the absence of the Mayor, a list of civic engagements that the Mayor had attended since the previous meeting of Council was tabled at the meeting (Appendix 1).

 

The Deputy Mayor explained that the Mayor was due to host an event on 19th August 2022 to mark the 75th anniversary of the independence of Pakistan.  This event, involving a dinner for guests, was scheduled to take place at the Redditch Cricket, Hockey and Rugby Club.  All Members were invited to attend.

 

During consideration of this item, Members were advised that since the previous meeting of Council, Mr Aled Evans had resigned as a Borough and County Councillor.  On behalf of Redditch Borough Council, the Deputy Mayor thanked Mr Evans for his time serving as a Councillor, Portfolio Holder and as the authority’s Armed Forces Champion.  The Leader of the Council and the deputy leader of the Labour Group joined the Deputy Mayor in paying tribute to former Councillor Evans on behalf of their groups and wished him all the best for the future.

 

b)          The Leader’s Announcements

 

The Leader explained that Councillor Gareth Prosser had recently experienced a period of ill health.  Members expressed their hopes for Councillor Prosser to experience a speedy recovery.  A request was also made for a letter to be sent to Councillor Prosser’s wife on behalf of the Council outlining this position.

 

c)          The Chief Executive’s Announcements

 

The Chief Executive confirmed that he had no announcements to make on this occasion.

 

 

33.

Questions on Notice (Procedure Rule 9)

Minutes:

The Deputy Mayor confirmed that there were no Questions on Notice for consideration on this occasion.

 

 

34.

Motions on Notice (Procedure Rule 11)

Minutes:

Members were advised that there were no Motions on Notice for debate at the meeting.

 

 

35.

Executive Committee pdf icon PDF 128 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Levelling Up Fund

 

Members considered recommendations that had been made at the meeting of the Executive Committee held on 28th June 2022 on the subject of the Levelling Up Fund.  It was noted that the content of the report had been debated in detail at a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, where Members had endorsed the recommendations.   In discussing the recommendations, Members welcomed the proposed investment in redevelopment of Matchborough and Winyates District Centres. 

 

Disposal of Land – St Gregory’s Church

 

Members discussed the proposed disposal of land at St Gregory’s Church and in doing so welcomed the opportunity for social housing to be developed at the site.  Concerns were raised that the St Gregory’s Church site had attracted a significant amount of anti-social behaviour in recent years and Members expressed the view that the development would help to address this problem moving forward.

 

(Prior to the debate in respect of this item, Councillors Tom Baker-Price, Andrew Fry, Bill Hartnett and Emma Marshall declared other disclosable interests.  This declaration was made due to their appointment to Redditch Co-operative Homes by the Council, as Redditch Co-operative Homes was due to develop land for social housing at the site.  They left the meeting and took no part in the debate nor vote thereon.

 

Questions were raised prior to their departure as to whether Councillor Emma Marshall had made a similar declaration of interest at the Executive Committee meeting held on 12th July 2022.  Members were informed that Officers would clarify this further outside the meeting.

 

In the absence of both the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Luke Court was nominated to Chair the meeting during the debate and vote in respect of the report on the subject of the Disposal of Land at St Gregory’s Church.)

 

Executive Committee Minutes – 12th July 2022

 

Council considered the content of the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee held on 12th July 2022.  Consideration was given to the decision that had been taken at this meeting in respect of the asset rationalisation of the community house located at Easemore Road.  Reference was made to the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 7th July 2022 at which the proposals detailed in this report had been scrutinised.  The Committee had proposed that a decision on this subject should be deferred until a full review of assets had been completed by the Council but this recommendation had been rejected by the Executive Committee.  The Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had subsequently been contacted by representatives of some of the tenants of the community centre as well as some residents about the decision that had been taken by the Executive Committee.  Concerns had been raised regarding the matters that had been recorded as having been discussed at the Executive Committee meeting and therefore questions had been raised about the accuracy of the minutes.

 

The Chief Executive explained that similar correspondence had been received by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

36.

Urgent Business - Record of Decisions pdf icon PDF 270 KB

To note any decisions taken in accordance with the Council’s Urgency Procedure Rules (Part 9, Paragraph 5 and/or Part 10, Paragraph 15 of the Constitution), as specified.

 

There has been one urgent decision taken since the previous meeting of Council on the subject of funding for Rubicon Leisure Limited.  A copy of the urgent decision is attached for Members’ consideration.

 

 

Minutes:

Members were informed that there had been one urgent decision taken since the previous Council meeting on the subject of funding for Rubicon Leisure Limited.

 

 

37.

Urgent Business - general (if any)

To consider any additional items exceptionally agreed by the Mayor as Urgent Business in accordance with the powers vested in him by virtue of Section 100(B)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

 

(This power should be exercised only in cases where there are genuinely special circumstances which require consideration of an item which has not previously been published on the Order of Business for the meeting.)

Minutes:

The Deputy Mayor confirmed that there was no urgent business for consideration on this occasion.